Sunflower felt very uneasy. She was in this place full of RUFFIANS AND THUGS, and Eugene had said they were his friends! And if what he had said about Rapunzel was true, that these guys might have heard something about her, then it made Sunflower really wonder what her mother had been hiding in her secret past.
To make matters worse, Eugene suddenly got a scared look on his face and said, "We need to get out of here, now!"
Sunflower felt her heart beating much faster than it normally did. A ruffian, or maybe it was a thug, pulled a lever, and there was suddenly a tunnel in the wall. Eugene pulled her to it, and they were soon walking through a pitch black tunnel.
"So," he said, "Who is this overprotective mother that kept you in the tower, anyway?"
Sunflower frowned. "She's not overprotective. She has a good reason to keep me there."
Eugene sighed. "And what is this good reason?"
Sunflower couldn't tell him that! If she did, he would probably figure out who her mother was, if he was really telling the truth about her. "I can't tell you," she said.
Eugene groaned. "Well..." There was a long silence, and Sunflower hoped that he'd forgotten about his questioning. But then he started talking again. "Does the name Gothel mean anything to you?"
Sunflower nearly tripped over her own feet. She accidentally let out a gasp. Gothel was her mother's mother's name! Eugene must have been on to her. He had figured it out! But at least he didn't know where her mother was. She wished she could tell her mother not to come back to the tower.
But she still had hope. "I don't know her," she said. It was true, she didn't know Gothel, who had died before she had been born.
"Oh really?" asked Eugene. "What's your mother's name?"
Sunflower was glad it was too dark for him to see her face, which would surely give her away. "M-mother," she said.
"Oh, come on," said Eugene. "What's her real name, the one everyone else calls her?"
"I don't know," said Sunflower, trying to sound believable. "I only call her Mother."
Eugene sighed. "So, if you don't know that, tell me the reason why she keeps you in the tower."
"No," said Sunflower. "I can't tell you that."
Eugene asked, "Is it because you have a special power? Magic hair, for example?"
How had Eugene known that? Her mother must have told him about her own magic hair that she'd had, Sunflower realized. And since it passed down to her, Eugene must have figured out that she was Rapunzel's daughter. But she couldn't let him know she had magic hair. If he didn't know, there was a chance he would think she wasn't Rapunzel's daughter.
I don't have any special powers," said Sunflower.
But to her horror, Eugene began singing her special song. "Flower, gleam and glow..."
Sunflower screamed, "No!"
She saw the tunnel getting brighter, and felt the glow start coming from the roots of her hair.
He'd figured it out, she knew. It was only a matter of time before he found her mother.